Square Enix Reveals Sleeping Dogs, The Reborn True Crime: Hong Kong

The game once known as True Crime: Hong Kong (and before that, simply True Crime), is now Sleeping Dogs. The "gritty, open-world action" game set on the streets of Hong Kong is coming during the second half of 2012, new publisher Square Enix confirmed today.

Sleeping Dogs, in development at United Front Games (ModNation Racers) is coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with a little help from Square Enix London Studios.

The pitch, according to Square Enix:

Sleeping Dogs catapults players into the role of undercover cop Wei Shen, tasked with taking down one of the world’s most fearsome criminal organisations from the inside… the Hong Kong Triads. As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.

One of the components of Sleeping Dogs that UFG heavily promoted when it was a True Crime game — before Activision kicked it to the curb and Square Enix picked it up — was its combat system, a blend of gunplay and martial arts action. Square Enix promises "bone-crunching kicks and combos, vicious counters and a cinematic set of environmental takedowns making use of countless real-world items from circular saws to phone booths, incinerators to refrigerator doors."

When I saw the game in action last year, it meant beheadings by Dumpster lids.

Or, in the words of Square Enix London general manager Lee Singleton, “it’s super brutal with devastating takedown moves, and when added to UFG’s proven heritage in driving games, a first class story and the vibrant backdrop of the Hong Kong underworld we get a fiery recipe with fun written all over it.”

We'll have more from Sleeping Dogs on GameTrailers.com and GT.TV soon.